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Kindness is Like a Magnet

I was visiting a friend, recently – Greg, he’s a pastor in a small country town. He moved there from a much larger regional centre a few years ago. Now, it typically takes a while to break into a small community like that. Everybody knows everybody else and they have done for years. So, when […]

I was visiting a friend, recently – Greg, he’s a pastor in a small country town. He moved there from a much larger regional centre a few years ago.

Now, it typically takes a while to break into a small community like that. Everybody knows everybody else and they have done for years. So, when a new person blows in from out of town, it takes time to gain trust. I guess it’s only natural.

That’s why what I saw of him blew me away. He took me out for coffee on the Saturday morning, but as we walked through the main shopping centre, it took forever to get to the cafe, because everywhere we went, people knew him. They stopped and wanted to give him a hug. They wanted to talk to him, there were smiles and you could tell that, not only had he been accepted, but people loved this guy.

We were sitting trying to have a quiet up of coffee – but every few minutes, someone would wave to him our shout out, “Hi Greg” or he’d recognise someone and say hello and smile and have a bit of a chat.

He’d only been there for such a short time – how do you get to that point in such a small community, so quickly?

I’ll tell you how. Greg is one of the kindest people I know. He goes out of his way to touch people’s lives and his simple kindness draws people like a magnet.

People who are kind will be rewarded for their kindness, but cruel people will be rewarded with trouble. (Proverbs 11:17)

Kindness and cruelty are at opposite ends of the spectrum. So often people try to get their way by forcing a situation, by rolling over the top of others, even by being cruel. But you know and I know, that just doesn’t work.

Kindness on the other hand, is like a magnet. We naturally want to be around people who are kind to us; people like Greg. And the crazy thing is, that most acts of kindness are so small: a smile, a word of encouragement, a hug, a pat on the back – and yet the results are incalculable. Not a bad return on investment when you think about it.